3 Professors Receive Lee's Excellence Awards

Ingrid Hart

Dr. Christopher “Crip” Stephenson

Dr. Skip Jenkins

The Excellence Awards, recognizing teaching, scholarship and advising, are considered the highest honors bestowed on Lee faculty each year.

Ingrid Hart, an assistant professor of accounting in Lee University’s Department of Business, has been selected as the winner of Lee’s 2014 Excellence in Advising Award. She was recognized for this honor during spring commencement.

The Excellence Awards are the highest honors presented to Lee faculty members. The recipient of the Excellence in Advising Award is chosen by a faculty committee, which reviews a three-year history of student advisor evaluation data as well as other information provided by the nominating department chairs and deans.

Ms. Hart initially joined Lee’s faculty in 2000 and then rejoined in 2006. Prior to Lee, she spent many years in both public accounting and industry. Her experience included financial reporting, strategic planning, corporate budgeting, management consulting, taxation, and capital expansion. She has received several awards and honors for her work including being recognized as one of the Who’s Who Among International Business Leaders.

Since her return to Lee, Ms. Hart has served on the business department’s accreditation committee, as sponsor for Phi Beta Lambda, organizer of the Accounting and Finance Lab, curriculum development, and the Critical Thinking Skills Committee.

In the local community, Ms. Hart has served on numerous boards including the Bradley Initiative for Church and Community, the Caring Place, the Boys Scouts of America, the Bradley/Cleveland Community Foundation, Pathway Credit Union, and the Commission for Racial Equality, an initiative to help reduce poverty, racial gaps, and increase economic opportunity.

Ms. Hart is a member the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Tennessee Society of CPAs, and the Georgia Society of CPAs. Currently, Ms. Hart organizes the Continuing Professional Education seminars for CPAs in the local area.

Ms. Hart has presented at various conferences in the United States and abroad, including Salzburg, Austria, the Bahamas, and the British Virgin Islands.

She earned her MBA in accounting from the Graduate School of Business, University of Tennessee, and a BS in accounting from Lee University. She is completing her doctoral degree in accounting at Anderson University in Indiana. Her research interest centers on the role of postulates in accounting in the today’s turbulent economic environment.

Lee University has named Dr. Christopher “Crip” Stephenson, assistant professor of systematic theology, as the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Scholarship Award.

The winner of this award is chosen each year by the Faculty Committee on Research and Scholarship. Lee President Dr. Paul Conn officially recognized Stephenson for this award during spring commencement.

Dr. Stephenson began teaching in Lee’s Department of Theology in 2008. His areas of specialization include theological method, pneumatology, Christology, and Pentecostal theology. His current research projects include works on baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the theology of Amos Yong, and the work of Jesus Christ (for Eerdmans’s “Guides to Theology” series).

Dr. Stephenson has published articles in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Journal of Pentecostal Theology, Istina and Religion Compass. He frequently presents at the American Academy of Religion and the Society for Pentecostal Studies.

As an ordained bishop, Dr. Stephenson is an active member of the East Cleveland Church of God congregation, where he regularly teaches, preaches, and contributes to Sunday liturgy.

Dr. Stephenson earned his PhD in theology and ethics from Marquette University and his MA and BA from Lee University.

Dr. Stephenson and his wife Lisa, also a Department of Theology faculty member, have two daughters, Abigail and Bella.

Dr. Skip Jenkins, associate professor of historical theology, has been selected as the winner of Lee University’s 2014 Excellence in Teaching Award.

The oldest award and considered to be superior among the three is Excellence in Teaching. The winner of this award is chosen by a special committee which includes representatives of six different academic departments.

Dr. Jenkins joined the Lee University School of Religion in the fall of 2004 where he serves as the director of Lee’s Graduate Studies in Biblical and Theological Studies. He has been appointed to serve as the new chair for the Department of Theology beginning with the 2014-15 academic year.

He teaches courses such as Introduction to Theology, Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and Freshman Gateway Seminar. He also teaches graduate seminars on prayer, the Trinity, and early Christian doctrine.

Since being at Lee, Dr. Jenkins has co-established an open discussion forum on campus called “Conversations on Apologetics,” and founded, with his wife, a student-oriented mentoring house whose stated purpose is spiritual, academic, and social accountability.

In 2012, Dr. Jenkins received the Excellence in Advising Award, and in 2013, the Janet Rahamut Award, given in recognition to the faculty member that exhibits the most heart for students evidenced by frequent interaction and positive involvement with them outside of the classroom.

Dr. Jenkins obtained his PhD in Systematic Theology at Marquette University, two master’s degrees at Duke University Divinity School, one in general theological studies (MTS), the other with an emphasis in historical theology (ThM), and his BA in Bible and Theology from Lee University.

He is a member of the South Cleveland Church of God, where he teaches discipleship classes. He is also an active member of The Society for Pentecostal Studies.

Dr. Jenkins is married to Larisa Ard, and they have four children: Merritt, Eleanor, Eli and Ava.

Lee President Dr. Paul Conn recognized Jenkins for this honor during spring commencement.

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